Titi Camara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Minister of Sports | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 28 December 2010 – 6 October 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Alpha Condé | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Mohamed Said Fofana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Thierno Aliou Diaouné | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sanoussy Bantama Sow [fr] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Aboubacar Sidiki Camara (1972-11-17)17 November 1972 (age 52) Conakry, Guinea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Aboubacar Sidiki "Titi"Camara (born 17 November 1972) is a Guinean former professionalfootballer who played as astriker. He was also the coach of theGuinea national team, which he captained and played for. He was also the Guinea sports minister, before being replaced in October 2012. He is best known for his stint withLiverpool in the 1999–2000 season, where he scored 10 goals in 37 games in all competitions, memorably scoring the winner in a game againstArsenal at Highbury.
Camara played forSaint-Étienne,Lens andMarseille in France, (playing in the1999 UEFA Cup Final for the latter) before being transferred toLiverpool.
A cult hero and crowd favourite atAnfield,[1] Camara is best remembered for playing at Anfield against West Ham in October 1999, the morning after the death of his father, scoring the winning goal and then dropping to his knees in front of the Anfield Road stand with tears flowing.[1]He also managed to score in three successive Premier League games for the Reds in late autumn of 1999.[2] On 13 February, he scored the winner atHighbury, leading Liverpool to a 1–0 win overArsenal.[3]Despite his short spell at Liverpool, he was voted in 91st position in the 2006 poll "100 Players Who Shook The Kop", which was conducted by the official Liverpool Football Club web site. Camara's placing made him the second highest placed African player, behindBruce Grobbelaar.[4]
Signed by managerHarry Redknapp[5] on 21 December 2000 for a fee of £1.5 million which, depending on other factors, could have risen to £2.6 million, Camara announced, "I've come to West Ham to play, play, play – and score, score, score. If it was a question of money, I could have stayed at Liverpool and picked it up. I need to play, and if I don't it is totally pointless."[6] Making his West Ham debut on 23 December 2000 in a 2–1 away defeat toLeicester City,[7] Camara went on to play only fourteen games, in all competitions, without scoring at all.[8]
In January 2003 Camara was sent out on loan toAl-Ittihad for the remainder of the 2002–03 season.[9]
Following West Ham's relegation in 2003 from thePremier League Camara left the club forAl-Siliya[10]after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.
Titi Camara was a stalwart of theGuinea team from the early 1990s until the early 2000s. He is regarded as a key protagonist in Guinea's return to respectability in African football and played for his country at the2004 African Nations Cup, where he scored 3 goals in the group stage, which meant he finished just one goal behind the leading scores of the tournament.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 July 1991 | Stade du 28 Septembre,Conakry, Guinea |  Mali | 2-0 | 2-1 | 1992 African Cup of Nations qualification | [11] |
| 2 | 16 August 1992 | Stade Omnisports Idriss Mahamat Ouya,N'Djamena, Chad |  Chad | 2-0 | 3-0 | 1994 African Cup of Nations qualification | [12] |
| 3 | 20 December 1992 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Kenya | 3-0 | 4-0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | [13] |
| 4 | 4-0 | ||||||
| 5 | 2 May 1993 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Zimbabwe | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | [14] |
| 6 | 11 July 1993 | Intwari Stadium,Bujumbura, Burundi |  Burundi | 1-1 | 2-2 | 1994 African Cup of Nations qualification | [15] |
| 7 | 18 January 1994 | Conakry, Guinea |  Ivory Coast | — | 3-0 | Friendly | [16] |
| 8 | 29 March 1994 | Stade Olympique de Sousse,Sousse, Tunisia |  Senegal | 1-0 | 1-2 | 1994 African Cup of Nations | [17] |
| 9 | 4 September 1994 | Botswana National Stadium,Gaborone, Botswana |  Botswana | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification | [18] |
| 10 | 16 October 1994 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Angola | 2-0 | 3-1 | 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification | [19] |
| 11 | 30 July 1995 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea | Mali | 1-1 | 4-1 | 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification | [20] |
| 12 | 2-1 | ||||||
| 13 | 1 June 1996 | Estádio 24 de Setembro,Bissau, Guinea-Bissau |  Guinea-Bissau | 1-2 | 2-3 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [21] |
| 14 | 2-2 | ||||||
| 15 | 10 November 1996 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea | Kenya | 1-1 | 3-1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [22] |
| 16 | 8 January 1997 | Stade de la Paix,Bouaké, Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | 1-0 | 1-2 | Friendly | [23] |
| 17 | 5 April 1997 | National Stadium,Lagos, Nigeria |  Nigeria | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | [24] |
| 18 | 23 April 2000 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Uganda | 1-0 | 3-0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [25] |
| 19 | 18 June 2000 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea | Zimbabwe | 2-0 | 3-0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | [26] |
| 20 | 16 July 2000 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Gambia | 1-0 | 2-0 | 2002 African Cup of Nations qualification | [27] |
| 21 | 13 January 2002 | Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium,Rabat, Morocco |  Morocco | 1-1 | 1-2 | Friendly | [28] |
| 22 | 8 September 2002 | Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea |  Liberia | 1-0 | 3-0 | 2004 African Cup of Nations qualification | [29] |
| 23 | 20 January 2004 | Stade Gérard Rossi,Sainte-Maxime, France |  Burkina Faso | 1-0 | 1-0 | Friendly | [30] |
| 24 | 25 January 2004 | El Menzah Stadium,Tunis, Tunisia |  DR Congo | 1-1 | 2-1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | [31] |
| 25 | 28 January 2004 | 15 October Stadium,Bizerte, Tunisia |  Rwanda | 1-0 | 1-1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | [32] |
| 26 | 1 February 2004 | Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, Tunis, Tunisia |  Tunisia | 1-1 | 1-1 | 2004 African Cup of Nations | [33] |
In December 2005, he was linked with the vacant manager's job with theGuinea national team. On 13 May 2009, CaptainMoussa Dadis Camara, the President ofGuinea publicly announced that he wanted him to manage the national team. At the end of May 2009, Camara was named the National Technical Director (NTC). On 9 June 2009, Camara was named the head coach of the Syli National to succeedRobert Nouzaret.[34] Camara was serving in dual capacities of NTC and head coach of the Syli National. On 15 September 2009, three months following his nomination as head coach of the Syli National, Camara was replaced byMamadi Souaré, a former Captain of the Syli National, following poor results, lack of cooperation/understanding with certain conspicuous members of the Guinean Football Federation (FGF), and absence of "cordial" relations with certain key elements of the Syli National.[35]
In September 2003, allegingbreach of contract, Camara sued West Ham United.[36] In 2006, West Ham successfully defended the High Court breach of contract claim brought by Camara.[37]
On 28 December 2010, Camara was made Sports Minister of Guinea by newly elected presidentAlpha Condé, making him the country's first ex-sportsman to hold a government post. He was forced out of his post on 5 October 2012 in a government reshuffle.[38]
Camara holds Guinean and French nationalities.[39]
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